Editor’s Note
Red carpets, and the fixation with what celebrities wear on them, had pretty much been cancelled by the time Chloé Zhao became the first woman of Asian descent to be awarded best director at the Golden Globes in February. But while other nominees still dressed up in Prada and Louis Vuitton even while calling in from home, Zhao appeared onscreen in a brown T-shirt and pigtails.
In an age when Big Fashion, in many ways, has become culturally irrelevant, there seems to be both a great desire and a real opportunity to break out of conventional systems and expectations. As it happens, when Zhao, who is being hailed as the most in-demand director in Hollywood following her international awards sweep with Nomadland, agreed to a profile, it was with one condition: she would wear only her own vintage clothes for the photo shoot, and wanted no make-up artist. Now that, dear reader, is style. And it’s exactly the sort of independent attitude that we seek to promote in Tatler.
For this, our spring fashion issue, fashion director Rosana Lai examined the various forces that are reshaping a disrupted industry and dividing designers between camps of optimists and pragmatists. Some, like the former Lanvin creative director Alber Elbaz, are using this moment to utterly reboot their approaches to making clothes—in his case with a new concept called AZ Factory that doesn’t follow conventional practices of seasonality or snobbery (in fact, the prices are relatively accessible). Others, like the young, independent designers Piotrek Panszczyk and Beckett Fogg of Area NYC, are breaking down the traditionally strict barriers of haute couture to create something new from their studio in New York, rather than on a Paris runway—and being applauded for pushing the envelope.
With nearly 100 pages of style, watches and jewellery content celebrating the best of the season, you’ll find there is still much to look forward to in fashion that directly relates to a desire for change—to be more purposeful and responsible, but also to express your own sense of independence.
Like Zhao, many of the subjects featured here are true originals. Certainly Claire Hsu, who appears on the cover, deserves this distinction not only for her style but also for her unwavering support of Asian artists through her two decades of stewardship of Asia Art Archive. As Hsu prepares to step down as the organisation’s executive director, she reflects on a remarkable history of contemporary art that otherwise might have been lost.
“This is not something I’ve decided overnight,” she says to executive editor Oliver Giles. “Part of successfully establishing the organisation was making sure it can continue into the future, well beyond my lifetime.”